Word Pattern Finder
Stuck on a crossword clue with a few letters filled in? Type the pattern using ? for each square you do not know — for example c?t? — and the Pattern Finder lists the words that fit.
LetterTrove uses one general English word list — a filtered version of dwyl/english-words (words_alpha.txt), derived from the Moby/Infochimps English word data, kept to lowercase words of 2–12 letters. Common, recognisable words are listed first within each length group, and two-letter results are limited to recognised everyday English. We don’t claim every entry is common modern English or valid in any particular word game. See the About page for full source details.
How to use the Word Pattern Finder
- Enter the pattern: known letters where you have them, ? where you do not.
- The pattern length sets the word length, so c??e finds four-letter words.
- Press Match pattern to see every fitting word.
Patterns are matched against the full word list, so even unusual letter combinations return the candidates the dictionary offers.
How ? wildcards work
Type the letters you already know and use ? for each square you don’t. The pattern’s length is the word’s length, so c?t? matches exactly four-letter words with c first and t third — cart, coat, colt and so on.
This is the tool for crossword gaps and hangman-style reveals. If you’d rather filter by length plus starting or ending letters, the Word Finder stacks all of those at once.
- Only a–z and ? are accepted; everything else is stripped.
- A pattern of pure ?s (like ????) just lists every word of that length.
- For an exact rearrangement of known letters, use the Anagram Solver instead.